Thursday, March 21, 2013

Do Bigfoot Inbreed? This Complicates Bigfoot DNA Research

"...if small, inbred populations did exist, it would invalidate many of the genetic inferences about when humans split off from the tree of life." --Erik Trinkhaus, Anthropologist

It can go two ways, either Bigfoot has a sufficient breeding population, or they are extremely scarce and might resort to inbreeding. Inbreeding, it seems, may have been more common in early humans than we thought. If this is the case according to Erik Trinkhaus, an anthropologist at Washington University says if small, inbred populations did exist, it would invalidate many of the genetic inferences about when humans split off from the tree of life, because these inferences assume large, stable populations.

Why is human inbreeding even being debated? New fossil evidence is changing how anthropologist view the human tree of life.

The evidence comes from fragments of an approximately 100,000-year-old human skull unearthed at a site called Xujiayao, located in the Nihewan Basin of northern China. The skull's owner appears to have had a now-rare congenital deformity that probably arose through inbreeding, researchers report today (March 18) in the journal PLOS ONE.

The fossil, now dubbed Xujiayao 11, is just one of many examples of ancient human remains that display rare or unknown congenital abnormalities, according to the researchers. "These populations were probably relatively isolated, very small and, as a consequence, fairly inbred," study leader Erik Trinkhaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told LiveScience.

Before I get emails from an offended Sasquatch or an inbred challenging me to a banjo playoff. There may be an argument that primates, especially ones more in tune with their animal nature, have a mechanism against inbreeding.

Previous studies have found that animals living in complex social groups have no trouble recognizing their own kin's calls, particularly the sounds of maternal relatives. Even goat mamas keep a long-term memory for their baby's calls, according to a study published earlier this year.

But less is known about how animals recognize their father's calls, and the cries of the relatives on dad's side of the family. Likewise, researchers know very little about how solitary-living animals avoid inbreeding with dad's side of the family.

That's where the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) comes in. These cartoonishly cute lemurs are raised by their mothers without help from dad. When they grow up, they head out of the nest to forage on their own. But male lemurs' ranges are large, and they often overlap with that of their daughters', suggesting the primitive primates have evolved some way to avoid accidentally mating with a relative.

The take-away, Kessler and her colleagues wrote, is that recognizing dad's voice requires neither a big brain nor a complex social life. In fact, ability to recognize kin may have preceded complex social structures in evolutionary history.

What is most interesting to us at Bigfoot Lunch Club is how inbreeding messes up how we understand human lineage and how it may have an affect on human DNA research, at least as far as . If the current Bigfoot DNA research being done by Dr. Melba Ketchum or Dr. Bryan Sykes is also based on human lineage, do these need to be rethought as well?

Watch the video below to learn more about how the deformed fossils found in China could change how we think of how humans split off from the tree of life.

During the 18th-19th Century it was quite common to marry a first cousin. The reason?In some locales there just weren't that many people! Easy to see the same could happen to a segregated Bigfoot Clan.The first cousin marriages appeared to stopafter improved transportation systems opened up isolated areas of various countries. Would an improved transportation system for Bigfoot be a powerline right-of-way? Railroad tracks, logging roads? Will the Bigfoots marry outside their faith? Ah....one can have fun with this!

It is very common even now for people to marry first cousins. In Sweden and the UK some 30% of all birth defects are due to inbreeding. Generally, in the Pakistani population and it is also very high across the middle east in the Muslim culture. Women are only allowed to be alone with family members of the opposite sex. For a romance to form it would generally be with a cousin. They are never allowed to be around men outside the family. Sharia law only allows Muslims to marry Muslims. Additionally, it is common for families to want to preserve the family wealth, secure tribal ties, secure tribal position and maintain or elevate status in the tribe, so they often marry first cousin or people from their own tribe. If they always marry within their own tribe the breeding population will be very limited. Additionally, a large percentage of Muslims living in the middle east are illiterate which prevents them from having a clear understanding of inbreeding and the risks of marrying a family member. For more info on this search the internet about this their has been a few recent article about it. British Health Services is having a huge financially problems having to treat all the birth defect population. The statistics in the article noted are gathered from British Health Services and Sweden's Health Department. You may even be surprised to find out that even in the US many states allow first cousins to marry.

Illiterate Muslims? Are you kidding me?!? You can marry your cousin in MOST US states. If you want to mix Bigfoot with bizarre and antiquated racial theories, take your comments to Robert Lindsay's blog, please. Yes, by "racial" I mean "racist."

How was any of that "racial" or "racist" when all they did was state fact. You live in the sticks and the only rules you know is to marry someone in the same religion……and your sister is the only one eligible in the same religion, guess what is going to happen? The fact that you even hinted at what they said as being "racist" proves your just out looking for anything to point a finger at to make you feel better about yourself. Sometimes stating the facts might make you butt hurt, but they are still the facts. And unless you open your eyes and accept them you are going to be living in a make believe world full of peace and unicorns.

Given your allergy to anything Ketchum-related, I'm really surprised to see this post. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be. From the timing alone, it's very obviously a desperate attempt to salvage the tarnished promise of Bigfoot DNA research. The former attraction was in the possibility of securing mainstream, scientific credibility. Post-Ketchum, misappropriating human genetics studies to validate wild speculation isn't going to advance that goal, I'm afraid. The human genetic bottleneck of c. 70,000 years ago is well-known. Bigfoot has yet to be proven to exist.

I'm fairly certain that Sykes offers more of a chance to obtain credibility than Ketchum ever did. I wasn't aware that this blog was ever intended to advance the goal of bigfoot DNA research. It presents articles that it's readers may find interesting.

Re: Sykes, two things come to mind, A. He is not a veterinarian posing as a molecular biologist. and B. He is about as legit as legit gets. When the time comes that he releases his findings I am certain that they will carry with them the caveat that a DNA study does not and will not "prove" the existence of an unknown hominin. Type specimens alone are this critter's ticket into the book of life. DNA will certainly add compelling weight to the investigation, but better to think of it as something akin to a corner piece in a larger puzzle . . . Cheers!

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About Guy Edwards

Guy Edwards is a Bigfoot enthusiast from Portland, Oregon. He dedicates his spare time to deliver the best bigfoot website for Bigfoot News and Bigfoot research. He has been searching for Bigfoot ever since he saw the 352nd frame of the Patterson/Gimlin film in 2nd grade. His own unique approach to Bigfoot (Sasquatch) is to champion three major disciplines; paleo-anthropology, primatology and statistical mathematics. Initially he created Bigfoot Lunch Club to be the Best Bigfoot Website for Bigfoot News and Bigfoot research. News spread and Bigfoot Lunch Club became a hit on it's own and continues to be the most respected source for Bigfoot News (we even have our own Bigfoot tshirts). You can contact Guy at feedback@BigfootLunchClub.com. Check out his other blog about Godzilla and other Kaiju at Everything Kaiju .com